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All the meanings of 'rather'

I would like to know all the meanings of 'rather'. I was checking on cambridge dictionary, and one of the explanations says that rather can be used as a sense of 'quite' or 'to a slight degree'.
As I know quite and slight are opposites, so how can I identify if the phrase is trying to pass a meaning of quite or slight degree?
To make the analysis easier, follows an image of the cambridge dictionary explanation:

Re: All the meanings of 'rather'

Unfortunately, in British English at least, "quite" can also be used in opposite senses:

1. "What did you think of the play?" "It was quite good..."

— it was moderately good.

2. "What did you think of the play?" "It was quite good!"

— it was surprisingly good.

In written English, the punctuation is the clue: to convey the meaning in #2, you need the exclamation mark. In spoken English, intonation is the clue: #2 will be said in a "surprised" tone, and will rise at the end; #1 will be said with a verbal shrug, and will probably fall towards the end.

"Rather" has much the same tendency; however, I would present its function slightly differently from Cambridge (if that's not heresy):

3. It's rather cold today.

— it's noticeably cold today; but I'm not going to get too excited about it.

4. It's rather cold today!

— it's noticeably cold today; I'm a little surprised by that fact, and would like to draw your attention to it.

Re: All the meanings of 'rather'

As you said one clue is the punctuation, I agree but look over at the cambridge explanation:
It doesn't change the punctuation, likeThat's rather a difficult book - here's an easier one for you.
Considering the punctuation I would say that the book is slightly more difficult, so briefing the conclusion, the only way to know what's the meaning of rather is the presence or not of punctuation?